Tree Tales: Adventure on the high seas

This story is not about pirates, but it still has a lot of exciting adventure. This past October, Jan and Joann, who are twin sisters, along with two of their friends, Carole and Margaret, planned to take a warm, leisurely trip to the Caribbean. Their intent was to be together on the high seas as they all turned another ye...

This story is not about pirates, but it still has a lot of exciting adventure. This past October, Jan and Joann, who are twin sisters, along with two of their friends, Carole and Margaret, planned to take a warm, leisurely trip to the Caribbean. Their intent was to be together on the high seas as they all turned another year older in October. Little did they know the plans they made were to be a little more exciting than they had anticipated.

They began their relaxation the day before the cruise, lounging around the pool at the Marriott Hotel in Miami. Beautiful Palm trees softened the hard landscape of buildings and cement. The blue sky tried to peek through the covering of clouds. Jan told me she wanted to take a picture of trees right away for Tree Tales, because she might forget later on. Thus begins the story as we are whisked away to a warmer place.

The next day the girls boarded the cruise ship, strolling the decks and checking everything the ship had to offer. They all agreed the quiet would be a welcome change for a few days, but things were about to change. That first night, the peaceful sounds of night on the open ocean were suddenly interrupted by the words, “MAN OVERBOARD!” Actually, it was a woman and a shroud of mystery surrounded the incident as to what really happened. Jan said the young woman was rescued, but no details were offered. The ordeal had an obvious impact on the cruise though, as the next day, instead of going to the planned destination of Jamaica, the ship was re-routed to Key West so the woman could get more needed medical attention. Jan related that nothing more was reported on the situation.

The girls were flexible and managed to adjust to the new location, enjoying Key West. They began to anticipate their arrival to the Cayman Islands, but once again, there was a change in plans. Hurricane Sandy was beginning to make her appearance and the immense ship was wisely steered to another destination to avoid the tropical storm. Now they were headed for Cozumel. Jan didn’t mind at all, since she has always wanted to go to Cozumel anyway.

The rest of their five day cruise was less eventful and Jan assured me they all managed to get plenty of relaxing in the sun. Upon docking in Miami, the girls were relieved and happy to see that the Palm trees were still standing tall and gracefully waving their huge branches in the breeze as if to say, “Welcome Back”.

Thank you to Jan, Joann, Carole and Margaret for sharing this out of the ordinary ocean cruise. Thanks for giving us a taste of that warm, cozy weather as we are enjoying something entirely different here in Illinois, yes I am talking about our snow, so drive safe and keep warm and dry.